Palestine’s president Mahmoud Abbas told the UN assembly prior to the vote “The moment has arrived for the world to say clearly: Enough of aggression, settlements and occupation,”
“Sixty-five years ago on this day, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 181, which partitioned the land of historic Palestine into two states and became the birth certificate for Israel. The General Assembly is called upon today to issue a birth certificate of the reality of the State of Palestine.” he continued.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the United Nations (Getty images)
The US, Canada and Israel voted against the proposal but were overwhelmingly out-voted by China, France, Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Russia, India, South Africa, Brazil, Nigeria, Austria, Norway, and Switzerland. In all there were 138 votes in favour, 9 against and 41 abstentions.
Celebrations took place on the streets of Ramallah (Getty images)
The UK abstained from the vote after the request for preconditions that Palestine and Israel must agree to talks were rejected. Foreign Secretary William Hague said “We called on President Abbas to set out a willingness to return to negotiations without preconditions, and to signal that the Palestinians would not immediately seek action in the international criminal court, which would be likely to make a return to negotiations impossible.”
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the results “unfortunate and counterproductive” saying she believed it “places further obstacles in the path to peace.”
Australia’s Foreign Minister Bob Carr said “Our position is to seek a two-state solution and the only way to achieve that is for the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table.”
Main image: Abbas Momani/AFP/Getty Images
